


Harry Potter and the Spectacles of Destiny

by ElasticElla



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon, Background Relationships, Cedric Diggory Lives, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 07:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16806238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Harry Potter is halfway back to the Gryffindor common room when he realizes he isn’t wearing his glasses.or: five times harry's glasses go missing & one time he puts them down





	Harry Potter and the Spectacles of Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> (come say hi on [tumblr ^.^](http://lesbiancleophas.tumblr.com))

1.

Harry Potter is halfway back to the Gryffindor common room when he realizes he isn’t wearing his glasses. It’s incredible that he made it this far without noticing, listening to Ron’s totally not jealous rant. (That Harry isn’t sure if Ron’s more jealous of Hermione or Viktor is rather odd, but he’s never been an expert on emotions. None of them are really.)

Ron pauses for air, face bright red, and Harry takes the moment, stopping. 

“Gotta grab something mate. Meet you back in the common room?” 

“Alright.” 

And Harry’s walking against the tide back into the Hall. He can’t actually see anyone’s expression, but he can still hear his name whispered. He grips his wand in his pocket, feeling stupid vulnerable without his glasses. Dudley might have broken them a few times on his face, but he was never able to steal them. (And in retrospect, he’s pretty sure that was accidental magic.)

The music’s still going, a small group of people’s movements probably dancing. He looks around at a few tables, not entirely sure that they aren’t on any of them, simply that he didn’t spot them. His vision is so bad without them, he isn’t sure he’d notice the giant squid joining the dance floor. 

“Harry! I was just looking for you!” 

It’s a taller student, and he kind of hates that he doesn’t need his glasses, recognizing pretty boy’s voice. 

“Yeah?” 

Cedric probably smiles, perfect little Hufflepuff that he is. “Saw your glasses on a table,” he says, pressing them into his hands. 

Harry’s face is burning and he mashes them on, “Uh thanks. I was just- thanks.” 

Cedric does smile, he can see it now, nearly blindingly white and wide. He looks like a young actor Aunt Petunia would gush over, and Harry looks away stomach turning. Given his luck, to the right is Cho, stunning in her bright white dress. It matches Cedric’s teeth, a stupid thing and-

“Hi Harry.” 

He forces a smile, “Hey.”

“You look really good Harry,” Cho says, and his heartbeat triples. 

“T-thanks. So do you, you look nice. Uh and you too Cedric.” 

Cedric looks more amused than anything, leaning in to say quietly, “I owe you one for the dragons. You know the egg? Does yours scream when it opens?” 

“Yeah,” Harry answers, eyes darting between them. 

“Take a bath with it okay?” 

“What?” 

Cho giggles, holding up her hands when Harry meets her eyes. “It sounds so silly, but really it works.” She turns to Cedric, “You should give him the password.” 

“Oh! Yeah, the prefects’ bathroom, much nicer than the dorms. You know the Boris the Bewildered statue on fifth? The password’s ‘pine fresh’.” 

“Right, thanks. I uh, need to get back.” 

Cedric claps his shoulder, “We’ll see you around.” 

“Good night Harry,” Cho says.

“Night,” Harry says, and he hadn’t noticed the Hall emptying as they spoke, his footsteps echoing loudly as he escapes. 

Only once Harry’s in bed, under the covers and face burning does he realize what Cho knowing how the egg sounds underwater means. Sleep doesn’t come easy, dreams full of wide smiles and too pretty people. 

2.

The third time, or maybe the fourth time now, Harry wakes up after the tournament has ended- after Voldemort returned- the Hospital Wing is quiet. There’s a hazy memory of the Minister and Crouch getting the kiss and Ron and Hermione visiting him and McGonagall the angriest he’d ever seen her. 

The world is fuzzy and he reaches for his glasses, frowning when his hand only meets get well cards and candy. 

Footsteps, loud enough but not brisk enough to be Pomfrey approach. 

“You got summoning spectacles Potter?” Cedric asks, voice purposefully light. 

He hands them over, and Harry puts them on, shaking his head. “What do you mean?” 

Cedric sits beside him, “They popped into my hands a few minutes ago. Advanced magic that.” 

Harry shrugs, tired even though all he’s been doing is sleeping, slumping back against the pillows. “I dunno, I was just looking for them.” 

“Hmm,” Cedric says, but doesn’t press further. His face goes serious, and Harry has a bad feeling he knows what Cedric’s about to say. “I have to apologize Harry. I didn’t think the cup would reactivate so fast, I thought I could get to you.” 

Harry shivers, remembers the green flash and Voldemort screaming as Cedric narrowly escaped. “Don’t. I’m glad you got out. You shouldn’t have been there at all, it was a trap. The whole thing.” 

Cedric’s smile is bittersweet, there won’t be any agreement there. “I owe you my life. You ever need anything, just ask.” 

Harry’s eyebrows come together, and he’ll have to ask Ron about this. It sounds like a wizarding thing.

“I mean it- tutoring in a class, visiting the Hufflepuff common room, my firstborn, say the word.” 

Harry cracks a smile, “Alright.” 

3.

Harry is not enjoying his break. He thought it’d be a good idea to take a rest after everything, to just have a year to himself. He took his NEWTs after a summer review session with most of his classmates, laughably low pressure after being out of class for so long and having gotten many job offers regardless of if he even took the tests. Hermione had been so happy at the prospect of the three of them doing something normal together, color coded summer study guides and all, that he and Ron had gone along with it.

Ron actually needed his NEWTs the most, applying and getting into Auror training. And at that, they all know Ron could have gotten in without it. But he wants to do things the right way, so no one can claim otherwise. Hermione at least is capitalizing on her war hero status, on a fast track to becoming the youngest Minister of Magic.

And Harry’s just sitting in his London apartment, watching the frost slowly melt off his window. Sitting alone tends to lead to thinking which leads to remembering everyone who died, and if he’d just done things a little differently- 

Harry pulls on a jacket and hat, stepping out into the cold. Today he’s gonna go shopping, maybe finally buy that pure golden cauldron. (...okay maybe not, it’s not like he’s brewing potions anymore.)

There’s a new shop on Diagon called Charming Creations, crystal hummingbirds flying around dainty flowers in the display window, and Harry goes in. It reminds him of the muggle glass figurine stores his Aunt Petunia never let him go into, only so much better. 

“I’ll be with you in a minute!”a voice calls, and Harry picks an aisle, slowly wandering as he takes it all in. There’s a set that looks like a miniature crystal zoo, mundane and magical animals walking around their areas. Another shelf has dinosaurs, and another hybrid creatures that look like something Hagrid would attempt. Assuming the charms are sturdy, he knows what he’s getting for the man’s next birthday. 

“Hello how can I- Harry! You didn’t say you were coming by!” 

He looks up, recognizing Cho right before she hugs him. They trade owls occasionally, and he belatedly realizes the project shop her and Cedric have been setting up must be this one. They break apart, Harry stepping back a bit and scratching the back of his neck. 

“I didn’t know- I thought you guys weren’t opening until January?” 

“The pets line isn’t done yet, but we decided to open up anyways for the winter holidays.” 

“Cool… this is incredible.” 

Cho smiles, “C’mere, you’ll like this.” 

Cho leads him to a corner with larger figurines, opening one of the blocks and pulling out a Swedish Short-Snout. He holds out a hand, and the dragon flies to it, cool glass claws clinging to him. 

“Cedric always kept his on his bedside, and we were discussing the charms that made it work- and I joked about how much people would pay if it was made of gems.” 

Harry lets out a little laugh, “That mean there’s a solid emerald version around here?” 

“Not quite.” Cho puts the dragon back, leads him to the register. 

“We do custom jobs for any gem work. But we keep these two on display.” 

Harry’s jaw drops at the sight, even more impressive than everything else he’s seen here. There’s a unicorn, all clear diamonds and glinting, cantering around the enclosure. And it is very beautiful. 

But he can’t take his eyes off the thestral. Made of black diamonds, the skeletal body sharp and gaunt. The likeness is perfect, somehow capturing the reptilian bits. It’s even more accurate than the drawings in his old CoMC book, wonders if it was made right beside a thestral. 

“Wow. How long do they last?” 

Cho smiles fondly at them, “The gems will hold their charms forever. The glass usually lasts around fifteen years, we guarantee ten of them.” 

Harry faintly remembers something about longevity and base materials from the seventh year charms review, nodding. “Really amazing.” 

Cho turns to him, “Do you have time for tea? Cedric should be up soon.” 

“I uh, should get going,” Harry says, looking back at the thestral. “Another time.”

“We’ll be here,” she says with a small smile, and Harry bids her goodbye. 

He kind of wants to stay, kind of wants to catch up in person with both of them. But they’re easier to deal with one on one, easier to pretend his jealousy is generic and impersonal. They were after all the it couple of Hogwarts, would have been voted most likely to get married if they did superlatives. 

The street is cold and blurry, and Harry wipes at his face annoyed. He’s eighteen, an adult in both worlds now, isn’t getting emotional over nothing. Only his hand hits his eye and dammit, his glasses are gone. He doesn’t remember taking them off, retracing his steps. In fact, he’s certain that he _didn’t_ take them off. 

“You left these,” Cho says the moment he reenters the shop. 

“Yeah, thanks,” he says, putting them back on. 

“How about a drink next week? Friday night?” 

“Sure,” Harry agrees before the words process, his neck burning. 

Cho beams at him, “Great, we’ll see you then.” 

4.

They solidify their plans over a few owls, and while the approaching date is filling him with giddy anxiety, he doesn’t back out. Instead he dresses in a nice shirt and jeans, flooing into the Hippogriff’s Haunt. An old family property Seamus’s mum gave as an engagement gift to him and Dean; with all the magical redecorating, it looks like a brand new pub. 

There’s a small explosion over at the hostess station, a sooty Kate walking over to him, cards in her wake. He isn’t sure why the younger Gryffindor isn’t at school and isn’t about to ask. “Hello, you reserved the chef’s table yes?” 

“Uh, sure?” Harry says, didn’t even know they had private tables. 

“This way,” and he follows her to a small room with a glass wall that peaks into the kitchen. 

“Harry, good to see you!” Cedric exclaims, the three of them trading hugs before they sit down. 

“This is uh really nice,” Harry says. Cho’s wearing a beautiful deep blue gown, and Cedric’s in nice dress robes, and he feels extremely underdressed. 

Cho nods, “Mrs. Finnigan came into the shop last week, bragging all about her boy’s new restaurant, said we had to reserve this room if we could.”

Fire flares out of the corner of his eye, a pizza going in the open oven. “Yeah, I can see why.” 

“So I heard you visited the shop on my one day off Potter,” Cedric teases. 

“I er didn’t-”

Cho rolls her eyes, “Ignore him, he’s just jealous.” 

Cedric grabs his chest dramatically, “Oh you wound me my love.” 

Harry snorts and Cho giggles. Cedric shakes his head at her, “Well, you’ll have to visit again. Definitely once the pet line is live.” 

Harry leans forwards, “Is it what it sounds like?” 

Cedric grins, “Better. It’s like-”

A waiter comes in then, Cedric falling silent. “Would you like the muggle or magical dining experience this evening?” 

Harry’s eyebrows come together, but Cho answers fast, “Magical please.” 

They nod, handing over three menus. “There’s a call rune on the bottom if anything is amiss.” 

“Thanks!” 

They leave, and Harry faintly recalls Hermione discussing new magical menus. “So you just touch what you want?” 

He blushes after the words come out, hastily adding on, “To order I mean.” 

“Yeah, you have to hold it for a few seconds so you don’t accidentally order something. But it’s much faster. Watch.” Cho holds her pointer finger to the menu for a few seconds, and there’s a low click, and then a neon green cocktail appears. 

“I’m surprised they still offer the muggle way,” Harry says, eyeing the drinks list. 

“For some people,” Cedric says with a significant look to Cho, “it’s so they don’t order everything.” 

Cho sniffs delicately, “No idea what you mean-”

“ _Eleven_ chocolate frogs.” 

Harry bites back a laugh, “Get any good cards?” 

Cho brightens, “As a matter of fact, I did,” and Cedric groans. 

Cedric orders a butterbeer, and Harry decides to do that too, isn’t trusting any of the explosive cocktails after having potions with Seamus for so many years. Looking at the table, he suddenly sees all the lines form a lion, subtle and lovely- definitely Dean’s art. 

“So the pet line?” Harry asks in the lull. 

“I’m having some trouble on getting them to learn enough. They can recognize one person and a name, but after that the charms fail- are overworked. They shouldn’t be so easily, and it’s not like they’re designed to be actively learning only passively, so the input variable should still be low enough.”

Harry’s eyes go wide, doesn’t even know where to start with that kind of problem. Cho grins, patting his hand. “Yeah that’s my face when he goes all charms theory too.” 

“You don’t,” Harry starts before realizing it might be an awkward question and gulping down some butterbeer. 

Cho smiles, “Nah. I have my own little potions experiments running in the backroom.” 

Cedric nudges her, smiling, “You’re making them sound easy.” He turns to Harry, “She’s trying to design a potion that can convey knowledge upon drinking.” 

“...holy shit.” 

“Yeah,” Cedric agrees. 

“That would completely change education,” Harry says. 

Cho blushes, “It hasn’t worked yet. It might never.” 

“It’s looking pretty promising though,” Cedric says. “There’s a potions master from America trying to steal her away to apprentice.” 

“Anyways, what are you up to Harry?” Cho asks.

Harry looks at the appetizers, “Not much. I’m taking a break from- everything.” 

“Vacation’s good for the soul, my mother always said,” Cedric says, a fig and walnut flatbread appearing on the table.

“Yeah…” 

“Have you thought about teaching at all?” Cho asks. “There’s a bunch of DA members able to produce a patronus because of you.” 

“I uh, hadn’t. I might talk to McGonagall next summer about it.” 

“Did you see Puddlemere last week?” Cedric asks, and Harry gratefully latches onto the new subject. 

“Yeah! I’ve never seen a seeker interfere like that, I can’t believe those moves were legal.” 

And the three previous seekers excitedly discuss the match, getting more drinks and food whenever the table nears empty. Eventually conversation turns to their own pasts playing quidditch and how they should do a pick-up seekers only game some time. Harry blames all the butterbeer for agreeing whenever they have free time, his mind doing somersaults imagining each- _both_ of them back on broomsticks. 

They stay late, later than Harry meant to, a warning popping up at 11:45 that the kitchen would be closing in fifteen minutes, and the bar in an hour. They exchange good-byes, Harry heading over to the floo. He blames the drinking for how the world seems fuzzier than normal. 

“Harry, wait!” Cho exclaims, rushing over to him right before he throws the floo powder. “Your glasses.” 

Harry turns to her, “Right, can’t believe I-”

Cho’s fingertips are soft on the sides of his face as she puts them on him. Her face comes into focus fast, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

“Next time we’ll have to do drinks at our place.” 

“Uh yeah, yeah that sounds good,” he answers, and her hands fall away. 

“Good night Harry.” 

5.

Harry might be going insane. He can’t decide what Cho and Cedric want with him, keeps changing his mind. Hell, he isn’t even sure what _he_ wants with them. At first he thought the Friday night Haunt dinner thing was a date, but it didn’t feel like a date. Way too easy, too natural, too much like how he _wishes_ dates would go. 

And then there’s the fact that Cedric and Cho have been dating forever, and surely if they were considering adding another person, they’d tell them right? And surely they’d want someone less damaged? (He used to wonder, when he was younger before the final battle, if Cedric and him shared nightmares of the graveyard.)

Harry shakes his head, looking around for the first time in a while on his walk. He doesn’t recognize any of the buildings, but there’s a nearby park and Harry goes over to a bench, sitting. He casts a warming charm, leaning back to stare up at the sky. It’s a clear day, presumably work and the bitter January cold keeping other people away. 

He closes his eyes, simply listening. Wind rustles the trees, and the question comes back. What _does_ he want with Cho and Cedric? He’d be happy to see them more, to have regular get-togethers, maybe bring them to the Weasleys’ for a real pick-up quidditch game. But he doesn’t want to get all bitter and jealous, doesn’t want to feel like the only two options are dating or nothing. Doesn’t wanna be that guy. 

Gripping his hair, he groans, “Stupid feelings.” 

There’s a pop and his eyes snap open, the world blurry. He almost isn’t surprised, he _knew_ it wasn’t him leaving the glasses in silly places. Harry doesn’t bother getting up, if past experience has taught him anything, they’ll find their own way back. 

He’s nearly dozed off when footsteps approach, and he suspects one of two people. Considering how much time he spends around Hagrid and Hermione and Ron, it’s rather curious that he’s never lost his glasses with them. Or anyone else. Ever. 

“I’m beginning to suspect your glasses are illegally charmed.” 

Harry snorts, and Cedric’s face comes into focus once he puts them back on. “I didn’t do it.” 

“That’s what they all say.” 

“Oh yeah Mr. Prefect?” 

Cedric laughs, “The amount of times Fred and George-” 

He stops himself, and Harry says, “Yeah?” 

“One time the fourth floor’s girl’s bathroom was _entirely_ covered in green paint. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, mirrors, toilets- everything. I run into one twin covered in blue paint and the other yellow, both insisting they didn’t do it.” 

Harry chuckles, can imagine it too well. 

“What I still don’t know is why they didn’t cast the paint charms from outside the bathroom to avoid being covered.” 

Harry looks up at him, “Are you- did you pull pranks in school?” 

Cedric smiles wide, “Nothing you can prove.” 

“While you were a prefect?” Harry asks incredulously, can’t reconcile this with the memory of the perfect prefect. 

“How about you come over tomorrow night to our place, and I’ll tell you.” 

“Alright.” 

“To be clear- this is a date Potter.” 

Harry gulps, “Uh yeah.” 

Cedric runs a hand through his hair, “Cho was thinking we haven’t been obvious enough, I thought we were, but I dunno.” 

Harry grins, his earlier anxieties dropped. “Can’t wait.” 

+1.

Cho is kissing him and Cedric’s fingertips are sliding down his sides and Harry isn’t sure this isn’t all an elaborate fever dream. Everything feels too good, unreal. 

And then his glasses get in the way, Harry putting them down on their bedside table with a rueful grin. He never thought misplacing them would lead to his next great adventure.


End file.
